I have been checking out houses for many months by walking through my neighborhood, driving around other neighborhoods, and doing online searches. As I previously mentioned, there was really only 1 house that stood out from the rest.

In early July, I forced myself to stop thinking about buying a house and try to concentrate on the bar. Several days before the bar I called my realtor to give her a heads up regarding what I'm looking for and when I would be available to look.

The bar was July 25-26. I met with my realtor in the first week of August and my mortgage rep was out of town until this past Monday, Aug 8th. I met with her on the 9th and was pre-approved for a mortgage the same day. I called my realtor who informed me she would make an appt for us to see the house on Friday Aug 12th.

The house has been on the market since April. My realtor called on Aug 11th - to find out an offer had been made on the house Aug 10th. Ugh, like a knife to the heart.*

*I'm trying to see the silver lining here; this house is at the top of my price range. It would be doable, but tough. Yesterday we saw a couple nice houses that were much cheaper - I'm trying to convince myself to focus on getting something more affordable so I have some cash to spare.